The capturing of analog video signals in the consumer, industrial and government/military environments is well known. For example, a moderately priced personal computer including a video capture board is typically capable of converting an analog video input signal into a digital video signal, and storing the digital video signal in a mass storage device (e.g., a hard disk drive). However, the usefulness of the stored digital video signal is limited due to the sequential nature of present video access techniques. These techniques treat the stored video information as merely a digital representation of a sequential analog information stream. That is, stored video is accessed in a linear manner using familiar VCR-like commands, such as the PLAY, STOP, FAST FORWARD, REWIND and the like. Moreover, a lack of annotation and manipulation tools due to, e.g., the enormous amount of data inherent in a video signal, precludes the use of rapid access and manipulation techniques common in database management applications.
Therefore, a need exists in the art for a method and apparatus for analyzing and annotating raw video information to produce a video information database having properties that facilitate a plurality of non-linear access techniques.